Advertisement
Michel Euler/AP/Press Association Images
Winning Streak

Djokovic makes it 42 straight wins with victory over Del Potro

Serb moves into the French Open last sixteen with 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory.

IT SEEMS THAT not even the sun itself can halt Novak Djokovic’s remarkable run of form.

With bad light forcing the Serb to abandon yesterday’s French Open third round tie against Juan Martin del Potro after just two sets, the world number two cruised to victory this morning, extending his unbeaten run to an incredible 42 games with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory.

Forty of Djokovic’s 42 wins have come since the turn of the year, leaving him just two matches short of John McEnroe’s record 42-game unbeaten start to a season, set by the American back in 1984.

With the match tied at one set each overnight, del Potro was the brighter of the pair when play resumed this morning, passing up two break points in the third set before Djokovic punished his profligacy with a break of his own.

That was to be the closest which the Argentine would come to causing an upset on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Now in the ascendancy, Djokovic was ruthless, dispatching his opponent in less than three hours to set up a last sixteen showdown with French native Richard Gasquet.

The man most likely to end Djokovic’s streak of invincibility, World number one Rafael Nadal, also secured his progress this morning, seeing off Croatian Antonio Veic in straight sets, 6-1 6-3 6-0.